Family Outdoor Life Archives

Posted on July 27, 2021 by Barb — Leave a comment

Outdoor Mom July 2021 – Sweet Summertime

Outdoor Mom

July 2021 – Sweet Summertime

When our warm weather hits, time seems to just fly by fast and furious! It’s as if we know our summer days are precious and in a blink of an eye they’ll be gone. So, we try to pack as many adventures and memories as we can into the July hours.

I wake up early to bird song and I stay outside late watering the garden.

We keep the kayaks all ready to go and our hiking shoes right at the door.

I spend quiet time writing in my nature journal, keeping track of wildflowers, birds, and trails hiked.

Last year when we were all locked down and isolating, I dreamt of our summer days of freedom. This year it has made us appreciate every day we can freely move and travel and be with our kids. We’ve gone on family camping trips, family floating days in the hot sun, family hiking and lots of picnicking. The summer is not over yet, and we have plans for more time spent outdoors together.

Sweet, sweet summer.

In the garden, we are planning/planting/harvesting…

The flowers have burst out in a riot of color. July is the time for enjoying the bounty of flowers we have that fill the garden. We experimented with reseeding our wildflower beds and expanding the sunflowers this year. In addition, we planted some new shrubs that have potential for berries long into the autumn. When a garden plan goes as expected, it brings such satisfaction. We have been blessed with an abundance of butterflies and hummingbirds this summer in part to our keeping their needs in mind as we picked new plants.

nasturtium 2021 renees — I have been trying to grow nasturtiums in my garden for many years. This year I planted Renee’s Garden seeds and they are thriving!

I’ll be writing soon about our Renee’s Garden seeds that are still growing and thriving.

The most inspiring thing we experienced was…

Looking back over the past few months, the most inspiring and fulfilling experience has been the abundance of nests and baby birds that have occurred right in our yard. We had robins, flickers, tree swallows, bluebirds, finches, doves, and chickadees all born within our eyesight. I love watching the birds as they fledge and fly off.

The addition of new nesting boxes really did reap us such happy memories this season. It went by way too fast. It’s been bittersweet to watch the birds take to flight, finding their way towards their next destination.

During our outdoor time, this month we went…

Tidepooling!!! This is one of my favorite outdoor activities. I was able to introduce my daughter-in-law to the joys of searching the shore for something living. She found a hermit crab and the smile she had told me that this girl is a kindred spirit.

I added nature journal pages about…

I sat on the beach several times during our coastal camping trip and sketched and wrote in my nature journal. These precious memories are now down on paper.

You can follow me on Instagram to see more of our outdoor life here in gorgeous Central Oregon.

Want to join in the Outdoor Mom post?

Answer all or just one of the prompts in a blog entry on your own blog or right here on my blog in a comment. If you answer on your blog, make sure to leave me a link in a comment so that I can pop over and read your responses.

During our outdoor time, this month we went…
The most inspiring thing we experienced was…
Our outdoor time made us ask (or wonder about) …
In the garden, we are planning/planting/harvesting…
I added nature journal pages about…
One last image…

Posted on May 19, 2021 by Barb — Leave a comment

John Day Fossil Beds National Monument-Painted Hills Unit: Tips and Images

John Day Fossil Beds National Monument

Painted Hills Unit

Oregon

March 2021

We moved to Central Oregon four years ago hoping to spend a good deal of time exploring this part of the world. The pandemic slowed us down but we’re hoping this year to get out and have some new adventures over the spring and summer months.

One place that’s been on the list is the Painted Hills here in Oregon. They are part of the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument found in eastern Oregon. Turns out they’re not extremely far from us and we took a day trip to hike the Painted Hills on a bright sunny spring day.

If you’re traveling from Bend, Oregon, the trip to the Painted Hills is an easy drive of a little less than 2 hours. The scenery is gorgeous so the time passes by quickly. The route takes you through the town of Prineville where you can stop for a coffee break or pick up groceries for a picnic.

Painted HIlls trailhead — The Painted Hills are dog friendly so bring your leash and some extra water for the trail.

Once you arrive, there will be a place to stop at a restroom and gather up a map from the kiosk. The trailhead to the overlook is just a little way down a dirt road. There is plenty of parking for the short overlook trail. I highly recommend this as a first hike to get the best views of the colorful terrain.

Note: If you’re on a road trip and are passing this way, take the time to visit the Painted Hills, taking a rest stop and a short hike.

We walked out to the overlook, snapped a few photos of our group, and then headed back to the parking lot.

We had the whole morning to spend exploring so we walked from the overlook trail to the Carroll Rim Trail. This was a little longer hike with some elevation gain on the way out. The day we visited was very windy so we were not too hot, but I would imagine in the summer this is a grueling, hot trail because it is completely exposed.

In late March, the wildflowers were just starting to bloom. I of course had to stop and take a few photos. We thoroughly enjoyed this hike because it led us away from the crowds and up to the top for a bird’s eye view.

After the Carroll Rim Trail, we took the cars over to the Painted Cove Trail. This is the trail you often see on Instagram where people are walking along a boardwalk with the colorful landscape in the background. It’s a short accessible trail that you could add onto a day trip if you have time.

What a fun day we had! Views, hiking, picnic, wildflowers…just my kind of place.

We made it back to Bend in time for dinner at a local brewery. Everyone, including the dog, loved the adventure of a new place to explore together.

Even in the pandemic, we are determined to get out and hike if we can do it safely. Now that we’re all vaccinated it seems more likely to happen.

Tips:

There are no concessions at the Painted Hills, so bring all you might need for your day. I highly recommend a picnic at the grassy picnic area where there are lots of tables to sit in the shade.
This is an excellent day trip if you’re visiting the Bend, Oregon area.
I would arrange to arrive early to beat the summer heat.
There is no fee to enjoy the Painted Hills.
There is the opportunity to travel on from the Painted Hills to John Day Fossil Beds where there is a paleontology center and the official visitor’s center for this whole area. (We hope to visit here soon!)
There is a Junior Ranger Program.

You can read more of my national park entries by following these links:

Hawaii Volcanoes National Park
Redwoods National Park (California)
Channel Islands National Park(California)
Death Valley National Park(California)
Crater Lake National Park (Oregon) .
Additional Entry for Crater Lake National Park from 2017
Grand Canyon National Park (Arizona)
Hot Springs National Park (Arkansas)
Mammoth Cave National Park (Kentucky)
Great Basin National Park (Nevada)
Petrified Forest National Park (Arizona)
Lassen Volcanic National Park (California)
Joshua Tree National Park (California)
Saguaro National Park (Arizona)
Point Reyes National Seashore (California)
Muir Woods National Monument (California)
Zion National Park (Utah)
Weir Farm National Historic Site (Connecticut)
Pinnacles National Park (California)
Paterson Great Falls National Historic Site (New Jersey)
Morristown National Historical Park (New Jersey)
Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge (New Jersey)
Cabrillo National Monument (California)
Shenandoah National Park (Virginia)
Acadia National Park (Maine)
Painted Hills – John Day Fossil Beds National Monument (Oregon)

Posted on March 30, 2021 by Barb — Leave a comment

Outdoor Mom: March 2021 – Spring is Coming!

Outdoor Mom

March 2021 – Spring is Coming!

My last update was back in January and since then we’ve had snow, and then snow, and then snow. We haven’t had any major snows as far as number of inches, but it will snow and then melt and then snow again. We have parts of our yard that are just now starting to thaw from all the freezing temperatures and the ice layer. I sort of feel the same way…just now starting to thaw from winter.

Now is the very unpredictable time of year when we can have just about any kind of weather all in the span of a week! I’m dreaming of warmer days where I can really get outside and work in the yard.

In the garden, we are planning/planting/harvesting…

We’ve kept busy with garden planning and building new nesting boxes before the migrant birds show up. We are putting up the last boxes this week. I had my husband build me two Northern flicker nesting boxes. I had no idea they would be so large!

As a side note, if you’re looking for printable bird nesting box patterns, I highly recommend going to the Nestwatch website and looking up the birds you are interested in attracting to your yard.

All About Birdhouses on Nestwatch.org

The most inspiring thing we experienced was…

March has been a busy month of birdwatching! We’ve had so many early arriving birds to add to our list. The most exciting observation we’ve made is the nesting of killdeer in the back pasture. I use my binoculars to watch them work on the nest in the short grass. This is something new to us and I’m eager to see how things turn out for them.

Our outdoor time made us ask (or wonder about) …

The emergence of the rodents from their winter homes has been fun to watch too. First, we saw the Belding’s ground squirrels poking their heads out from their holes. Now we have least chipmunks under the bird feeder just about every day. They are so tiny! We always have gray squirrels in our yard but right now we will regularly have 5-6 of them scurrying around to find food and playing chase up and down the tree trunks.

One last image…

steelhead falls march 2021 — Steelhead Falls on the Deschutes River

We’ve been hiking quite a bit in the past month as the sun has warmed up and the days are longer. We found a couple new waterfalls not too far from us and now they’re on the list of regular places to hike and take out of town guests. The hikes are not too difficult or too far which is fun for a day trip and a picnic.

I am so looking forward to more hikes as the spring season progresses. I felt like we missed out on a lot of things last year with the pandemic and I’m eager to get back into the hiking, biking, and kayaking routine.

You can follow me on Instagram to see more of our outdoor life here in gorgeous Central Oregon.

Want to join in the Outdoor Mom post?

During our outdoor time this month we went…
The most inspiring thing we experienced was…
Our outdoor time made us ask (or wonder about) …
In the garden, we are planning/planting/harvesting…
I added nature journal pages about…
One last image…

Posted on January 25, 2021 by Barb — Leave a comment

Nature Observer – January 2021

Nature Observer – January 2021

Here in Central Oregon, we’ve entered the season of pink sunrises and cold frosty mornings. There may be a new dusting of snow on the ground which will soon be marked with critter prints as they come out from cover to search around for their next meal. Living so near to a river, we see its story each day as we look out the window and venture out to walk along the riverbank.

We’ve had plenty of foggy, misty mornings this month and sometimes it takes until noon for the fog to disappear, but we almost always have a bit of sunshine at some point each day. My husband and I try to take advantage of the sun’s warming rays to get outside for a quick walk. I was able to get an image of a coyote trying to sneak along the river one foggy morning last week. He was on the hunt and would occasionally stop and stand as still as a statue before he rushed along some more and then eventually out of sight. We often see the coyote prints in the snow and mud, so we know they’re out there roaming around but we rarely see them in the daytime.

This January we’ve experienced a great thaw. A warm rain caused the snow and ice to almost disappear from the landscape; the melting snow making great pools of water where the ground is frozen underneath. We actually can see green grass and the violets are blooming in a few spots around our yard.

I think the most interesting aspect of the great thaw has been the revealing of the habits of the mice that live around our property. At first, we could see their trails underneath the snow, like tunnels that lead from their warm little homes under the earth that then lead out to where they can scurry under the birdfeeders to gather fallen seeds.

Now that the snow is all gone, you can see the paths among the vegetation. I wrote about this survival method a few years ago when I discovered that critters live and thrive in the “subnivean zone” during the cold winter months. They do not hibernate like other animals which fascinated me. They create a world underneath the snow where the snow acts as an insulator from freezing winds and temperatures.

You can read more here: Subnivean Zone.

The most exciting story this month is that of the elk returning to our neighborhood. They are early morning visitors, so most mornings I open my blinds the minute I’m up and around. We put up our critter cam again to get some video of them as they walk majestically by in the early hours of the day.

We’ve had a much milder January than is normal, so we’re bracing for the possibility of a wintery February. Time is moving along quickly and as always, we have plenty to occupy our thoughts as we venture out each day to notice the drama and excitement that happens right outside our door.

I invite you to join us this month for the Outdoor Hour Challenge as we work our way through the Winter Nature Study Continues ebook.

Please use the discount code NATURE5 to receive $5 off an Ultimate Naturalist membership.

Posted on November 23, 2020 by Barb — Leave a comment

Outdoor Mom – November 2020

My last Outdoor Mom post was way back at the end of August! I think my life hit the accelerator in September and is just now easing up as we enter the winter season here in Central Oregon. Our autumn was a little warmer and longer than normal and we took full advantage of it with hiking, kayaking, gardening, and birdwatching.

I kept telling the family that we needed to take advantage of the weather and get outside! We made some sweet Autumn 2020 memories.

During our outdoor time, we went…

We’ve been on several new hikes since August, thanks to my new hiking guide that I bought featuring local trails. We found a beautiful park in Bend, Oregon (Shevlin Park) that goes along Tumalo Creek. The aspens were in the peak of their autumn color and we enjoyed the sound of them blowing in the breeze. We sat for awhile on a log near the creek and just took in the sounds and sights of a perfect autumn day.

We also hiked to the top of Bessie Butte on a day after a snow shower. Our son often hikes to the top of this particular butte to think and refresh himself after work. It makes my heart happy that he sees being outdoors in nature as a way to balance his busy life. We made it to the top of the butte where the wind was howling in our ears. It was cold but so incredibly beautiful!

One morning I woke up and just had an itch to go to the beach and put my feet in the sand. My amazing husband loaded me up in the car and we took the 3 hour drive to the coast! We brought our picnic lunch and enjoyed it in the sunshine while sitting in the sand. We walked the shoreline for a long way and just took in the salt air as we did a little beachcombing. I feel so very blessed to live where I do and that I’m able to indulge my heart from time to time with a spontaneous trip to the seaside.

The most inspiring thing we experienced was…

We had a crazy COVID influenced wedding in our flower garden in September. My son ended up marrying his best friend among my sunflowers in a simple, socially distanced wedding with a few family members and friends. One of my favorite moments of the day was when a chickadee landed on the sunflower right over their heads as they said their wedding vows. It was a beautiful way to celebrate the beginning of their life together.

In the garden, we are planning/planting/harvesting…I am dreaming about…

We spent a few days pruning, weeding, and cutting things down in our garden spaces. One week of below freezing temperatures at night really hurried the process along. We saved seeds and cut flower heads and then tucked it all in for the winter.

As planned, we put over 120 bulbs in the ground for spring flowering. This is our first time planting bulbs in Central Oregon, so it’s a bit of an experiment to see how successful we are with bulbs making it through the winter. Hopefully we’ll see some crocus, grape hyacinth, and daffodils next spring. I’ll be thinking good thoughts all winter as I think of the bulbs all cozy under the ground awaiting the spring warmth and sunshine to wake them up.

One last image…

It was a wonderful summer with my daughter living here with us. Spending time outdoors with her will be my fondest memories of the summer. She has since moved back to California and she’ll be getting married very soon. I hope she will come back next summer and spend time with me on the trails and on the river…probably with her sweetheart along as well. She’s starting a new adventure, but I know she loves it here as much as I do!

You can follow me on Instagram to see more of our outdoor life here in gorgeous Central Oregon.

Want to join in the Outdoor Mom post?

During our outdoor time this month we went…
The most inspiring thing we experienced was…
Our outdoor time made us ask (or wonder about) …
In the garden, we are planning/planting/harvesting…
I added nature journal pages about…
One last image…

Posted on October 28, 2020 by Barb — Leave a comment

Nature Goals 2020 3rd Quarter Update

Nature Goals 2020

3^rd Quarter Update

To refresh your memory, here’s a list of my nature study goals for the year 2020 along with our efforts towards reaching those goals.

Goal 1- Keep a nature journal. I shared earlier this year how my life has been full of so many unexpected responsibilities and this has impacted my ability to stay current with my nature journaling. But now that things have slowed down just a bit, I’m back on track to “catching up” with a lot of the pages I imagined creating when I was crazy busy with life. I’ve been sharing a few images of my nature journal pages on Instagram, but here are a couple that I hope inspire you in your efforts.

Goal 2 – Add to our backyard habitat. This really has been a focal point of our outdoor life in 2020. I’ve found such comfort in being outside digging in the ground and walking in the garden. We tackled a huge section of lawn and transformed it into a wildflower and sunflower garden that attracted birds, bees, butterflies, and toads over the summer and even now into the autumn. I’ll be sharing the process in future posts.

Here’s a short list of what we did to add to our wildlife garden so far in 2020.

Replaced grass with natives and wildflowers.
Planted bushes that have flowers for pollinators and berries for the birds to eat.
Added two crabapple trees.
Moved a bird bath where we could keep it full every day.
Added more nesting boxes – attracting swallows, western bluebirds, chickadees, and wrens.
Added more large rocks and moved a stump for shelter.

Goal 3 – Take local hikes. Using a local hiking guide, we’ve been on a couple exciting new hikes this summer. I really need to share blog entries for both (add them to my writing schedule). I must admit that at first, we were hesitant to get out and hike during the COVID-19 pandemic. But, once we gave it a try, we realized that we could safely be outdoors and for the most part we observed others being as cautious as we were by wearing masks and staying distanced.

Goal 4 – Make notes in my field guides. I find such joy in recording in my field guides the dates and places I observe subjects. The problem is that I don’t do this consistently, either because I don’t take the time, or I don’t have a pen to mark it down. So, I took a morning and paged through my wildflower field guide and at least made a check mark next to all the wildflowers I can remember seeing in real life. If I remembered where I saw the wildflower, I noted that as well. Now I am keeping a pen inside each of my field guides so there is no excuse for not keeping notes when the time comes.

Goal 5 – Continue to participate in Project Feederwatch and the Great Backyard Bird Count. We participated in the Great Backyard Bird Count back in February and we are eagerly waiting for November 14, 2020 when we start counting feeder birds again as part of Project Feederwatch.

Goal 6 – Visit a new national park. This sadly may be a goal we do not reach this year because of all the COVID-19 restrictions. We had a road trip all planned out for June 2020 to Olympic National Park (in Washington state) but we had to cancel all of those reservations. I’m not going to give up on those plans and since I have all my notes and itinerary still in my planner, I can easily book another trip when we can travel more freely and into Canada. Yes, our trip even included a jaunt up into British Columbia! Another change since making this goal is that we sold our rather large travel trailer. We may need to wait until we find a new smaller trailer that fits our needs as we ease our way into retirement.

All in all, I think we’ve done a pretty good job of working towards and reaching our nature study goals this year. I’ve now made a few notes in my planner to work on fully accomplishing the goals we can achieve by the end of the year.

Did you make goals for 2020? Were you able to reach some of them?

Join my Instagram to see more of our family’s outdoor adventures.

Posted on September 23, 2020 by Barb — Leave a comment

Oregon Wildside-Autumn Update

Now that autumn is rolling on in and I’m winding down my garden season, I thought it was time for an update to my July entry on what was going on in my yard’s wildside. To get you up to speed, you can read the first entry in this wildside series here: Keeping A Wildside – Oregon Style.

Mostly, autumn is a time of mowing and cleaning up what’s left and reflecting on what I might do differently next year.

The whole idea of a wildside is to keep an area of your yard “wild” to see what grows there naturally. This provides a natural habitat for your native bees and birds to use for food and shelter. Allowing the plants to go to seed will keep your wildside growing from year to year.

I left a large patch of plants growing along the fence until I knew for certain what they were. It turns out they were prickly lettuce. They aren’t an especially pretty plant and I’m thinking next year I’ll pull them up when they sprout in the spring. (There will be a prickly lettuce nature study coming soon!)

My lovely mullein has sort of taken over the one side of our berm garden. I love mullein but we had so much of it that I went ahead and pulled it up by the roots to clear a space in the garden for some more yarrow. Don’t worry, there’s still plenty of mullein for our family to enjoy along with the birds and bees.

The experience of allowing a wildside allows for me to change my mind about a particular plant once I identify it. I allow something to grow until I can see if it’s a native, if it’s beneficial to birds or birds or other animals, and if it isn’t something that’s going to completely take over the area. It’s a lot more work to allow things to grow before you decide if you need to weed them out, but I learn a little more each year and I’m getting much more proficient at knowing what should stay and what should go.

We mowed most everything down once it went to seed so we’re sure there will be a new crop of dandelions, yarrow, tansy mustard, purple dead nettle, and collomia once spring comes again.

We have one thing left to do this year before the weather turns too cold and the ground too hard to dig. We’ll be transplanting some native grasses from one side of our yard to fill in a bare spot. The grasses will help create more of a “wildside” on the side of my husband’s shop. Transplanting grasses is fairly easy and as long as you get a good root ball, they take off growing like nothing ever happened.

Observations

The ground squirrels are all back in their burrows until next spring. I’ll miss them periscoping up out of their holes to scurry along the tall grasses. Their holes are all still visible but there has been no sighting of them for weeks.

Our swallows and bluebirds are all gone from their nesting boxes and we’ve cleaned the nests out for the season. I find nests so interesting. Each species of bird has their own way of going about building a nest and with our attempt at keeping a wildside, I think it helps the birds have the right kind of nesting materials they need to successfully raise a clutch of eggs. You can see how the bird artists use the grasses, leaves, and twigs gleaned from our yard.

Good night wildside. We shall see you on the other side of winter!

Read the July 2020 entry that highlights our Oregon Style Wild Side Garden.

These are resources I have in my personal library that I flip through for information and inspiration in building my wildside garden.

Please note the links above are Amazon affiliate links to books I purchased with my own money and highly recommend.

Posted on September 16, 2020 by Barb — 12 Comments

Members Please Read: Changes to the Outdoor Hour Challenge

I highly recommend that members read this post for important information.

Sitting in my office looking out the window, I see the very first signs of the autumn coming. One thing about where I live in Central Oregon, summer is very short. It barely feels like we’re in the rhythm of summer and then the air turns crisp, the willows start to show color, the leaves rustling on the aspens have a different sound as they twirl in the afternoon breezes and the air just has that certain autumn feel to it if you pay close attention. It all rushes in too fast.

Unlike many of my readers, autumn is NOT my favorite season. I feel unsettled and restless.

With the turn of the calendar to September, I find myself thinking about what is to come as far as creating nature study ideas for the Outdoor Hour Challenge family of participants. 2020 has been a life changer for many of us and with those changes we sometimes see more clearly where we need to be on our personal journey. I’ve loved every minute of my work here on the Handbook of Nature Study, but I think change is in the air here as well. My thoughts are turning towards what comes next.

Don’t panic! The next year here on the blog will go on as usual but behind the scenes there will be a slowing down of writing new materials. Not a true “retirement”, but a slowing of the pace to allow room for exploring the next chapter in my life.

The Ultimate Naturalist Library

I feel like by the end of August 2021, I’ll have enough materials, printables, and activities in the Ultimate Naturalist Library to provide a complete nature study curriculum to most families for many, many years. Just think, I’ve covered the complete Handbook of Nature Study several times through with the Outdoor Hour Challenge.

Way back in 2008 when I started this project, I could’ve never imagined how much we would accomplish here with the Outdoor Hour Challenge. In addition to using the contents of the Handbook of Nature Study, there are additional topics that were of interest to my family and to participants like regional wildflowers, herbs, more birds, and different habitats. We worked our way through all of the seasons by closely observing many subjects together. The Outdoor Hour Challenge has helped families all around the world to develop a relationship with their own habitat and subjects.

Changes to the Outdoor Hour Challenge

I plan on adding to the Ultimate Naturalist Library for the next year (September 2020-August 2021). After that, I will be keeping the website up and active with weekly challenges from the archives.

What do I plan on releasing during the year from September 2020 to August 2021? I’ll be adding new printables to the library and eventually two new nature-related ebooks (topics to be determined).

Starting in September 2021, I will no longer be adding anything new to the library. Members will still have complete access to the library of Outdoor Hour Challenges and ebooks, newsletters, and printables for the foreseeable future. Your memberships will still be rich and full of all sorts of nature study ideas by gleaning from the library topics of interest to your family.

New Ebooks – Writing and Releasing in the 2020-2021 School Year

During the next year, I have time blocked out to write two final ebooks. I have so many ideas swirling around in my head but I thought it might be a good idea to ask you readers what topics you would like to cover with the Outdoor Hour Challenge.

>>>>>>>>Email me your thoughts! Harmonyfinearts@yahoo.com

Here are a few of the ideas I have and you can add additional ideas if you have them:

Herbs – additional herb challenges
Wildflowers – one last wildflower ebook
Gardening for Kids ebook
General nature study ebook with more “how to” ideas and printables
Nature Journal ebook with simple ideas and examples drawn from past examples
A particular habitat that we haven’t already studied

Planning My Future

I’m not ready for a complete retirement from writing for the Outdoor Hour Challenge yet. It still feels relevant and valuable to keep sharing my love and passion for nature. But I want to take the time to see where the next path is going to lead me. I started off as a busy homeschooling mom of teenage boys who had a love for the outdoors. Now those boys are in their mid-twenties and I’m retired from homeschooling. We’ll be celebrating the first wedding of one of my four children. It’s a time of change.

Thanks for taking time to read my thoughts and PLEASE email me with any questions or comments. Send me your ebook ideas and then keep on going with your family’s nature study plan as we all work through the end of 2020 and face 2021, braced for what that will bring.

My email: harmonyfinearts@yahoo.com

Posted on August 31, 2020 by Barb — Leave a comment

Outdoor Mom – August 2020

This has been a month for insect watching! It’s been a long time since I picked a “focus” nature topic for the month and it’s reminded me of the value of being alert to seeing things I might otherwise miss.

Dragon flies were the star for several of our outings on the water. I have a fun memory of floating on the river with blue dragonflies landing on my arms and hat. Then there were the larger black and white dragonflies that look like small hummingbirds. They were spotted high up on tops of reeds and sticks, hanging out over the water where they sat waiting for a meal.

The wildflower garden has been abuzz with all kinds of insects. It makes me happy to sit nearby and listen and watch as they hop on, hover over, and dip into the colorful flowers.

We decided the meadow out behind the house should be called “grasshopper acres” this month because of the abundance of hopping and leaping that happens as you walk through the grasses. They are everywhere.

I’m keeping myself accountable this month with an insect page in my nature journal. It’s nothing fancy but it will remind me of a few of the insects I encountered during this month of looking for insects.

Our bird list this month has some surprise entries. The most inspiring addition was the Common Nighthawk. I wish I could post a video of the flying acrobatics of this amazing flyer! We noted the pointy wings, the white patches under the wings, and watched it on several late afternoons and evenings over the river.

Then there was the exciting visit of five Great Egrets. We observed them flying down at the river with their long thin necks, stick-like legs, and long yellow beaks. This is the first time we’ve seen a group of egrets here in our Oregon neighborhood.

But, the most compelling visitor we had this month is the Cooper’s hawk. He’s been hunting at my bird feeder. Twice I watched him dive at the feeder as the little birds flew off in every direction. Afterwards, both times, he sat in the tree over the feeder, unsuccessful in capturing anyone. I was able to get a good look at him as he actually posed for a few photos. A rather large and handsome hawk, he sat and patiently waited for a long time before flying off.

window decal review 2020 — It’s hard to capture them in a photo.

On another bird related note, I installed some window decals that are designed to alert birds and prevent bird strikes. Our living room has a HUGE picture window and it has been the scene of many bird strikes and deaths in the past. I purchased the Window Alert window decals in the hope of reducing the number of birds who run smack into our window glass. They were easy to adhere to the exterior of the window. I was worried that they would annoy me as I look out the window but I’m happy to say that I don’t even really notice them anymore.

Do they work? I can’t say they have eliminated ALL of the bird strikes from happening, but I have noted that the very few that still hit the window must see the decals and slow down enough that it isn’t a fatal collision. We haven’t had a single bird death since putting the Window Alert decals up.

I call that pretty successful. I purchased them at our local Wild Birds Unlimited store for $6.95. The package says to replace the decals every four months since the UV coating will eventually fade and not be as effective. I guess I’ll get another set next spring.

Here are a few more fun things we did outdoors this month.

We made a day trip to the Crooked River to have a picnic and go fishing.

We took a new hike at Sahalie and Koosah Falls. What a magnificent place to take a 3-mile hike alongside the McKenzie River. I think this is my top pick for a day hike here in Oregon.

My daughter and I had an awesome time cutting lavender at the Hood River Lavender Farm. What great memories we made that day! It was a hot day and the scent of lavender was thick in the air. We tasted lavender lemonade for the first time and loved its refreshing flavor.

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During our outdoor time this month we went…
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Posted on July 28, 2020 by Barb — 2 Comments

Keeping a Wildside – Oregon Style

I’ve wanted to share a little bit about the process we’ve gone through as we have designed the landscaping on our half acre plot here in Central Oregon. When we moved here 3 years ago, there was a large expanse of lawn and not much else. My husband loves green grass in the summertime but even he admitted there was way too much to mow and water.

After experiencing the process of removing lawn in our previous yard in California, he was very open to not expanding the lawn, and eventually removing quite a bit to make way for more native plants and shrubs. (You can read about our California wildside here: Keeping it on the Wildside – Part 1 and Nature Study on the Wildside – Part 2)

It really takes a change in thinking to adjust to the idea of less lawn to make room for more native plants. He still pushes back on my desire to keep the dandelions around the edges of the lawn. We have many, many dandelions here, so the compromise is to keep them to one side of the yard, in my Oregon “wildside”.

What is my “wildside”?

I define my “wildside” as a place to allow the natives to grow until we can identify them. Then we decide on a case by case basis whether to pull them out by the roots or to nurture them into beautiful plants that add such variety to our yard. This means a shift from calling a plant a “weed” to viewing them as a valued plant in our garden plan.

Restoring a wildside where we remove lawn and transplant native grasses and other flowering plants is also a part of the broad plan to create more natural habitat in our new place.

Short List of My Wildside Plants

Dandelions

Purple dead nettle

Mullein

Tansy Mustard

Yarrow

There are still some plants I have yet to figure out if they’re on the “pull them out” list or the “to keep” list. It’s truly a learning process as I gain knowledge and understanding of the new habitat I live in.

I have one main wildside area in the yard and then several smaller pockets of plants that I’m also allowing to grow and make decisions about as we go through another summer season.

One area of wild things is alongside the driveway and I’ve had so many friends comment on how I’m letting the “weeds” grow and I should pull them out. (They are trying to be helpful.)

Secondary List of Wildside Plants

Strawberry blite

False dandelion

Collomia

Silver phacelia

The past three years have been a season of observation. We take daily walks around the yard and as each new plant matures, we identify it and then decide if it’s a good fit for our garden. It involves a lot of careful weeding, but in the end I think we’ll have a variety of plants that will be beneficial to the habitat in some way.

mammal hole wildside — This is one of the holes that something, probably a ground squirrel, has dug in my wildside garden. I need to put up the critter cam to see who is digging here.

What do I mean? We think about whether a particular plant is attractive to pollinators, provides food and shelter to birds or other animals, or is a showy plant that provides color for us to enjoy.

Where we are pulling out the lawn, we’re replacing it with native shrubs that will grow and thrive in Central Oregon. I’m hoping to support the birds and insects that have started to visit and reproduce here. It is so joyful to look out and see the nests being built right within sight of our back widow.

We daily see bees, moths, butterflies, and other insects visiting the flowers.

The birds are using the native grasses as nesting materials, eating the seeds and berries from the plants, and taking sips of water from the puddles left in the dirt and on the rock walls we built.

So there you have a brief overview of how we’re creating a new wildside in our Central Oregon space. There is so much more to share, so I will save that for a future post. It’s a hobby and a passion that I could work on during the time isolated at home during the COVID-19 pandemic. It doesn’t look like the “staying safe at home” time is ending very soon, so I will probably update you dear readers later this fall with any changes or outstanding observations we’ve made.

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Category: Family Outdoor Life

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